Apparently, the government wants to understand the allure of a gay hookup being just a touchscreen away. Case and point, The National Institutes of Health gifted Columbia University almost $500,000 to “study” gay hookup apps like Grindr.

Around 60 gay men who use these apps were interviewed to “see if they lead to an increase in risky sexual behavior.”

“Given the expediency with which men are able to arrange sexual encounters using these applications, there is cause to question if, when, and how sexual negotiation and serostatus disclosure occurs.

The overall study goal is to understand how sexual risk behaviors among MSM may be facilitated by the nature of GPS-enabled smartphone applications, the way they are used, and the process by which sexual partnering occurs via smartphone applications.”

Additional information was gathered concerning the “sexual-arousal levels” of gay app users to “investigate the sexual and emotional states (e.g., more/less urgency, arousal, impulsivity) that MSM experience when seeking or meeting sexual partners using smartphone applications.”